Catch them young

Toddlers International equips preschoolers with English communication skills

Three-year-old Shreya used to find it difficult to communicate with her peers in her preschool. Having noticed that, her parents decided to shift her to a newly begun pre-school four months ago. Nowadays, little Shreya is at ease when she has to converse with her friends and elders.

Toddlers International Preschool in Kuravankonam was started by English Clinic, an organisation based in Pune, with the objective of equipping children with communication skills, especially spoken English, at an early age. The organisation had earlier taken up a one-year contract with schools such as Sarvodaya CBSE, Nirmala Bhavan and Marion Villa to help students with spoken English. They had conducted workshops by trained professionals for the same.

According to Desmond, head of operations, Toddlers International, students of many schools in the city including English medium schools are weak in spoken English. “Most students avoid speaking in English and look at the language as any other subject that they had to learn and score marks in,” he says.

He marks this attitude down to inadequate language development at preschool and elementary levels. “The ability to use speech and language to communicate with others is vital because it helps in understanding the world, increase self esteem and improve relationships,” he claims.

It was with this in mind that English Clinic started a preschool to mould minds at the very beginning of a child’s educational journey. Learning is done more through listening and visual activities.

The school has weekend programmes during the academic year for school-going children of any age and a summer vacation programme that lasts from April to the end of May.

There is no homework and each child is given individual attention, says Desmond. The school also provides personal attendants such as a full-time nurse and child psychologist and has a paediatrician on call.

According to the preschool, this sort of an open-minded learning environment will enable students to hone their leadership qualities, the power to think and increase their competency.

In the coming years the school hopes to expand from preschool level to elementary school.